A/N:
This chapter won't be as long as the past few ones. This is, after
all, the last one, and if I made this longer, it wouldn't have a
satisfying ending.

Ironies
of Life

The
team manager of the basketball team froze. Zabuza said it already
earlier, but she didn't believe it, she wanted to convince herself
that he wasn't gone, at least, not without saying goodbye. "How
could that be? I was with him last night! He should have-" she
turned to face them and they all had depressed looks on their faces.
Without thinking, Sakura suddenly ran out of the court, rushing
towards his father's place. "Sasuke,
don't do this to me!" she
shut her eyes as she ran. "Don't
leave me…"

She
reached the Uchiha mansion and stopped at the gates. "Uchiha
Sasuke! Stop playing around and show yourself!"

The
guards came to her, wondering what she was yelling about. "Um,
miss, Sasuke-san left with his brother this morning, they went to the
States."

Sakura
eyed them in shock before dashing back to Sasuke's apartment, still
not believing the news. When she got there, no one was home, not even
Ame. Without hesitation, she dropped to her knees and cried, calling
out his name over and over.

Chapter
14: I Love You

The
front door opened and Kasumi was surprised to see her daughter enter,
her eyes stained with tears and her expression of deep misery and
sorrow. She wondered briefly what could have caused her daughter to
be in this state, but she had a feeling that it had something to do
with the person she met this morning. "Sakura, you-" her daughter
just walked pass her and went to her room, opening the door, closing
it and plopping down on her bed, ignoring how her cell phone vibrated
with the lights blinking on and off. Someone was calling her, but she
wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone, so she just let her mind
drift, her eyes slowly closing before she fell in a deep slumber.

She
didn't even hear the faint knocking of her mother on her room door,
even when it opened and Kasumi entered, a sad look on her face upon
seeing her daughter asleep on the bed with tears still spilling down
her cheeks. She sighed and pulled the blankets over her before
kissing the young girl on the cheek lightly. She glanced at the desk
Sakura had in her room, smiling softly at the new object that was
just placed there early in the morning.

"Mom…"

Kasumi
blinked and looked at her daughter who slowly sat up and looked down.

"Yes
dear?"

"…When
I told you about… my answer to Sasuke even though I really do love
him, was it a wrong decision..?"

The
older woman eyed her for a moment before sitting down beside Sakura.
"You know, there's really no right or wrong answer when you're
in love, you just rely on what comes to you, answering without
thinking. Because that's what you truly feel, and not what you
think." She stood up, smiled one more time at Sakura before leaving
the room.

Sakura
thought about what her mom said, and she sighed and buried her face
on the pillow, crying out in frustration. "How could I have been so
stupid? I answered him with my thoughts and not with my heart! Not
what I felt!" her grip on her pillow tightened. "Now he's gone,
he didn't even bother to say goodbye! That baka!" she threw her
pillow on the floor in anger and tried to calm down. She didn't
know what to feel anymore.

Her
ears picked up the sound of vibration, before it stopped. She quickly
turned her head to her bedside's table, seeing her phone with three
missed calls and one new message. She checked who the caller was,
eyes widened upon seeing the name displayed. "Sasuke-kun…" she
tried to call back, but only a recorded voice answered her, saying
that the phone was out of coverage area. Devastated, she stared at
Sasuke's name and picture for a while before reading the message,
her eyes shedding a fresh batch of tears when she read it.

I
wish I didn't hope too much on what you said on the night you first
slept over…

She
clutched her phone tightly, recalling how there was a blackout, and
how she went down stairs because she couldn't sleep. She saw Sasuke
on the couch in a deep slumber, and she was staring him for a while.
She could remember how she smiled at his sleeping face, and how she
uttered the words: "I think I'm beginning to fall for you
Sasuke."

What
she was not aware of though, was that he smiled when she left, and
that he had heard it.

"Sasuke…"
she looked up, startled at what was on top of her table. She rushed
to it, eyeing the three roses on the vase: a blue one, a pink one,
and a red one. A note was folded underneath the vase, and she took
it, reading the contents.

"This
will be my last and final sign to you. I hope you kept everything you
got from me."

Her
mind drifted back to the first gift she got from this person whom she
thought was Sai. The bear was still on her bed, Ten-Ten ate the
chocolates though, she kept the CD full of her favorite love songs
and she chatted with this person online, yet she still had no idea
who he was. He left clues, but it was hard to figure out who he was.
Then, there was the ring, she kept it, but didn't wear it, she just
had it displayed on her desk near the picture of her and Sasuke on
the school festival. She continued reading the note.

"Blue
represents mystery: Why this? Don't you think it's pretty
mysterious on how I fell in love with you? It also means the
impossible or unattainable, which is, in our case… But then, it
means a lot of things you know, like how the lighter shade of it
means the first flush of love, which I believe I felt when I got to
know you. It also means caution or secrecy, like how our relationship
moved from friendship to love, without anyone knowing that it was
just something we pretended to be. And you know what else? It
symbolizes the meaning of a new opportunity opening, and this is our
chance. Deep pink: Thank you, for everything. Red..? I'm pretty
sure you know what a single red rose means. You're my first love,
my last, and will always be the only one."

She
finished reading the note out loud, and as she read some more, she
finally figured out who was responsible for sending these gifts or
signs to her. "I can't believe you, Uchiha Sasuke…" she
murmured, her eyes producing tears but a smile was on her lips as she
held the note close to her chest.

"Sasuke,"

He
looked up from the window he was staring at, seeing his brother take
a seat next to him on their family's private plane.

"When
you get there, you know that you have to forget about her and
everyone else."

The
teen was silent for a few moments, so Itachi spoke again. "You
already know what Father said."

Itachi
noted how his little brother's eyes closed, his head leaning back,
brows furrowed. "I know it's hard, but you have to do this," he
looked straight ahead as the plane finally took off. "It's the
only way you can finish college there."

"Aa."

The
older Uchiha looked surprised for a moment as he abruptly turned his
head to Sasuke who now gazed back at the window.

"You're…
serious..?"

"Aniki,
I made up my mind. You know how I am when it comes to making
decisions."

"Yeah,
you're stubborn."

"Hn,
so are you…"

"No
duh, we got it from our parents, ototo."

Silence
followed after and Itachi decided to take a nap and leave his brother
to his own thoughts. Once the plane lands on the States, he'll have
no choice but to keep moving forward without taking a look back at
the past. Sasuke needs to focus on the present and future, for that,
his past must be forgotten, his past should stay here inside the
plane once he steps out. He needs to start a new life again.

"I
know the feeling ototo," he
glanced at Sasuke at the corner of his eyes. "I
just hope that Sakura wouldn't do the same thing my ex did when I
got back. Seven years is pretty long, and so was ten years, when I
was studying to become a doctor, and spent another year there, only
to come back to Japan to realize that she had another…"

(Back to Chapter 1's beginning)

She
looked up when the announcer had spoke up. "He's here." She
said to herself, ignoring the smile her companion had. "Come on
then, let's greet him." He stood up, offering her a hand as she
took it, following his lead when he made his way through the crowd.

Sakura
didn't know for how long she was holding her breath when men
dressed in formal suits with guns came rushing in, clearing the
crowd. Her heart was beating rapidly, and she couldn't wait any
longer to see him, to see how he turned out, to see if he moved on,
to see if he found another girl.

"Man,
that sleep on the plane was what I needed…"

"…Itachi-niisan!"
she called out.

Itachi's
ears twitched and he turned to the source of the voice, seeing Sakura
waving enthusiastically at him. He smiled and walked over to her,
followed by a couple of security agents. "Hey Sakura, long time no
see!" he patted the girl's head. "You've grown taller, but
you sure still look like a kid." He chuckled when she pouted.
Itachi turned to the man beside her and gave him a curt nod and a
smile as the man returned the gesture.

"Anou…"

The
Uchiha turned back to Sakura who was looking pass him, eyes searching
for his little brother.

"Uh…
Sakura," she looked up at him. "Sasuke's flight was yesterday,
he starts working today. I thought you knew that..?"

A
man named Uzumaki Naruto had better get ready to meet Sakura's
fist.

He
smiled as the little girl giggled at what he just said. He stood up
from his kneeling position and patted her on the head lightly. "Now
that Sachi-chan is on his favorite place, you now no longer have to
worry about his sadness."

"Thank
you nii-san!" she said out loud. "Sachi-chan thanks you too! I
can hear him yell it!"

"You're
welcome." he looked up at the woman who approached them, giving a
curt smile to her. "Thank you for taking care of my daughter
Uchiha-san." She took the little girl in her arms as the child
waved goodbye enthusiastically at him. He gave a smile at her,
sighing when the door closed. He walked back to his chair and
continued typing on his laptop.

"Rough
day..?"

He
sighed in relief. "Geez, I thought you were another patient."

The
woman smiled and approached him, standing behind him as she pulled
him back to rest on his chair, telling him to close his eyes as she
massaged his head. "Sasu-chan, your father doesn't want you to
stress yourself."

"I
know that," he muttered, feeling sleepy at her touch. "Ka-chan, I
don't want to fall asleep during work."

She
giggled. "I have no idea why my two sons picked the medical
department in college." She pulled the chair he sat on and made it
face her as she smiled at Sasuke's bewildered face. "Take a break
for now, it's only your first day, mister psychologist. Besides,
you're the boss of your own job anyway!"

"But-"

"Unless
you'd like to meet another child who has imaginary friend
issues..?"

Thatgot
him to get up and step out of his office as his mother giggled and
finished the report he was typing earlier. Mikoto always wondered why
his youngest son can't be satisfied with doing just one job. "Well,
being a writer is kind of like a hobby for him…"

The
wind felt nice as it blew against his face.

"I
sure missed this place…" he muttered under his breath, walking
down the sidewalk that was next to a border where the sea was beyond
it. He could remember when he chased Sakura down there after she kept
yelling that he liked her, which was the truth. "Hn,
pretty nostalgic…" he
thought; a bitter smile on his lips as he reached the stairs that led
to the sand that separated him from the water. "I
wonder how that gaki is doing?" he
thought to himself, not getting any news from Naruto and the rest
when he asked about her.

He
made his way towards the stairway, walking on the sandy beach and
stopping a few feet away from where the waves crashed against the
shore. He closed his eyes and inhaled the salty scent of the sea,
opening his eyes to let the wind brush away his bangs as he stared at
the about to set sun. "It's
been seven years, huh gaki?" and
he averted his gaze towards the ring on his finger, a rare look in
his eyes as he closed them and thought about his decisions and
actions during those seven years. "Seven…
the same number on my jersey, the same number of the members of
Shinobi Seven, the same number of years I've been away, the same
number of days I got to know her and fell for her…" he
smirked at the idea. "Seven
must be some kind of lucky number… or maybe, something that
signifies a lot to me…"

Sasuke
opened his eyes and stared at the orange-red sky, deciding to take a
seat on the sand, letting the breeze as his only company while he
continued reliving the memories he spent here.

"The
beach…" she
thought, looking up at the cloudy sky. It wasn't raining but the
air was as cold as if there was a storm. "Yeah,
maybe… I'll go there…" and
she made her way down the street, heading towards the beach. She
stopped for a while when a few cars passed by the street, and when it
was safe, she crossed it and stopped upon reaching the stairway that
led her to the sand, and beyond that lay the ocean, the waves
crashing and the salty scent of the water urging her to move on. A
smile made its way to her lips as she placed her hands on her chest,
her left ring finger adorning a ring. "It's
been seven years, Sasuke. When will I see you again?"

She
sighed and took a step forward; hesitating a bit until she finally
proceeded in climbing down the stairs. Someone else went up, opposite
to the direction she was going as they passed by each other. She
stopped when she reached the sand, slowly turning her head behind her
as the person who reached the top did the same. Their eyes locked
onto each other, one widening while the other was startled for a
moment before softening his gaze at her. "Hey Gaki." He greeted
with a small smile.

"Neko..?"

A
surprised look before he laughed lightly. "I can't believe you
still call me that," he paused and grinned. "Blowfish..."

She
ran up to him and tackled him to a hug, causing him to fall back on
his rear as he grunted in pain.

"Ow,
man, is it me or have you gone stronger..?" he looked down to see
her crying onto him, her hands gripping onto his formal suit. "Baka!
You've been gone for so long without even bothering to say goodbye
or inform me of your departure! You're so stupid that I hate you!"
she yelled. "I hate you so much and yet I missed you and I-" she
got cut off when he kissed her lightly, pulling away. "You're so
annoying." He glanced at her ring finger, smiling upon seeing the
jewelry. "You're wearing it…"

She
gave a nod. "Back then, I was so stupid to not tell you how I
really felt, so when Shino gave me this and explained to me what it
was for, I never took it off the moment I wore it, as a sign that I
am already committed to someone." She raised her head to look at
him, her eyes stained with tears. "Am I too late..?"

He
smirked and shook his head, ruffling her hair. "Gaki, what made you
think I moved on?" he showed her an identical ring that he was
wearing, and she smiled brightly and crashed her lips onto him,
earning a surprised look from Sasuke when she pulled away, startled
at what she did. "I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to, I just…
well, I…"

"Shut
up." And he kissed her, waiting for her to return it as she tried
to register what was happening, if this was real or another stupid
dream. Yet when she felt his tongue lightly come out to lick her
lower lip slowly, she closed her eyes and opened her mouth, allowing
his tongue to enter her cavern to meet her own anticipating one.

He
pulled away and leaned his forehead on hers while she lowered her
head a bit, still wondering if this was one of her imaginations.

"…You're
really here…"

"Aa."
He replied, smiling slightly as he kissed her again.

"This
isn't a dream," she whispered, her lips connecting with his.
"It's far from it." He answered, caressing her face with his
left hand as she leaned onto the warmth of his palm, closing her eyes
as she felt him. "Sasuke-kun…" she said, barely above a whisper
as she placed a hand over his, keeping it on her face, not letting
go. "I love you…" she said, loud enough for him to hear, soft
enough to make it seem gentle. "I know," he answered, leaning his
lips to hers. "And I still love you." And he closed the gap of
their lips, glad that this finally happened.

When
they parted for air, he pulled her into a hug, and she didn't mind
sitting there, in his arms, out in the open.

She
smiled as she watched him pass the ball to Naruto, running towards
the side of their court before jumping in the air to dunk the ball
his best friend shot. The acting referee blew onto his whistle and
called it a day. Sakura giggled when Kiba and Naruto were at each
other's throats once more, debating on who won or who lost.

"They
haven't changed a bit…" she turned to her left to see Hinata
smiling at the two boys. "Yeah, you got that right," Sakura said,
glancing at the little boy on the female Hyuuga's lap who was
cheering his dad on noisily. "I hope little Sei here doesn't act
like Naruto and Kiba do."

Hinata
laughed. "Don't worry, I'll make sure he won't." he glanced
at Sakura's belly. "Why didn't you tell me you already have
another child in your womb for a month?"

Sakura
turned red and laughed nervously. "Sasuke-kun didn't want any of
you, particularly Kiba and Naruto, to know since they'll start
teasing him again on being active,
if you know what I mean." Hinata just giggled. "So you're
saying he's not?"

Sakura
and Hinata turned beet red as they looked up to see the four year old
boy, who looked so much like his dad but had the same green eyes as
his mother, stare at them with curiosity, head tilted - a habit
gotten from his father – and blinking innocently on top of Sasuke's
shoulders, who also had a light blush on his cheeks.

"Uh…
Shoushi," Sasuke began, putting his son down and knelt before him
to be in eye level. "Why don't you hold on to that question until
you're thirteen at the least..?" the child smiled brightly and
gave a nod. "Sasuke! He's still too young to know that when he
turns 13!"

"Hey,
my dad told me about itwhen
I was nine."

"What?!"

He
gave a nod, recalling how his mother scolded his father at that time,
and how his brother had covered his ears from all the cursed words
Mikoto mentioned. Still though, he turned out okay even after all
that. He was, and still is, an Uchiha, after all.

"I
hope you're not planning to do the same…" Sakura said in a low
and dangerous tone.

"I
won't, don't worry." He gave a reassuring wink at her before
picking his son up again and taking his sports bag. "Come on, I
still have work tomorrow and I need to get some rest." Shoushi
pouted at this as they all bid their goodbyes to each other, Kiba
taking his bike to go on a separate direction while Naruto, Hinata
and Sei made their way across the street to dine in a restaurant
nearby.

"Tou-chan,
do you really have to go to work tomorrow..?"

"Yes
Shoushi, I have an appointment with kids your age and up or even
younger." He noted the frown on the boy's lips and he couldn't
help but smile. His son was like him alright, easily gets jealous
when someone he loves focuses their attention on someone else of the
same age and/or gender. It was the same with how he gets irritated
when Sakura talks to other guys he doesn't know, and not to
mention, Sakura also ignored him for at least during the day whenever
he'd talk and smile at some women – namely, his patients'
mothers.

"So,
exactly who do you have an appointment with tomorrow?" Sakura asked
as she climbed onto bed after taking a shower. She looked at Sasuke
who just came back from tucking their son in bed, giggling when he
yawned and sat on their bed. "Sai and Kurumi's daughter." He
stiffened when he felt the deadly aura emitting from his wife.
"Sakura." He sighed, glancing at her, sweat dropping upon seeing
how she gritted her teeth and clenched at her pillow.

He
just shook his head and leaned to her, kissing her lightly on her
forehead despite her frown. "Hey, gaki," she glared but he just
smiled. "You don't have to be jealous about Kurumi or her
daughter, Umi."

"That
married woman is still after you." She hissed, her eyes narrowing
dangerously. "And that Umi just likes hugging you! And she glares
at me yet is so sweet to Shoushi!" Sasuke gently pulled the poor
pillow from Sakura and set it aside, amused at how Sakura muttered
under her breath. "And at the same time…" he spoke, leaning to
her ear, tucking a stray strand of pink hair as he flicked her
earlobe lightly with his tongue. "I glare at Kurumi when Umi glares
at you, I like hugging you and Shoushi in front of them, I like
kissing you senseless when I know the banshee is watching, and I like
showing my affection as a dad to Shoushi with them staring at me."
She blushed when he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her
to him, her back hitting his chest as he leaned down to her neck from
behind, kissing it lightly. "And I love you and Shoushi, not the
banshee and banshee junior."

She
smiled lightly and lifted an arm to pull his head a bit lower, her
head turning to the side to give him more access as he continued to
lick and kiss it, caressing her neck with his gentle kisses, making
her giggle a bit since she was ticklish in that area. "Mou, you
really have a knack for this psychology business." She pouted
playfully and pulled away.

"Hey,"

Sakura
laid down on the bed, her back to him as she muttered a good night
and closed her eyes. She opened them again when he turned off the
lights and hugged her, pulling her closer in his arms.

"Who
said I was playing psychology?"

And
again, another night of convincing the pink-haired woman that he
loves her. But he doesn't need his proof, she already knows it.
Shoushi is already a good enough evidence, what more now that she's
carrying another Uchiha 'brat' in her womb?

"Geez,
stop ignoring me gaki…"

"BAKA!
Stop calling me that!"

The
End.

A/N:
Yey! Now I can focus on Ai no Tsubasa and Biohazard – which hasn't
been updated. Err… I'm sorry? Hehe. Hey! I've got a life too! Shoushi means midnight. Let's just say the boy was born at midnight. Sei is short for Seishin which means spirit.

The author would like to thank you for your continued support. Your review has been posted.